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C. 8. JENNINGS.

CARRIER.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.30. I916.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

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UHES'IER S. JENNINGS, 0F VVELLESLEY FARMS, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TOTHE LAT/[SON COMPANY, OF BO$TON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF NEWJERSEY.

CARRIER.

Application filed December 30, 1916.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Crrnsrnn S. JENNINGS, .a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at VVellesley Farms, in the county of Norfolk and Stateof Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inCarriers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to carriers for pneumatic despatch tube systemsand more especially to devices of this character so constructed as topossess certain desirable characteristics hereinafter referred. to, andparticularly adapted for the transmission of order or sales slips,telegrams and similar articles of very light weight.

The invention aims among its various ol jects at the provision of acarrier which shall be peculiarly sensitive to control,

economical of manufacture, economical of air in transmission, and whichshall possess an inherent flexibility which adapts it to traverserelatively abrupt bends or curves in the transmission line with greatfacility; the danger of its becoming stuck in the line at such a bendbeing reduced substantially to a minimum.

These and other objects will be hereinafter more fully discussed and theelements of the novel construction employed to the attainment of suchobjects will be particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawing which forms a part hereof and in which likereference characters designate like parts in the respective views, 1have exemplified a preferred embodiment of my invention; but as I amaware of many and various changes and modifications which may be madeherein without departing from the spirit of the invention, I desire tobe limited only by the scope of the claims.

In the drawing:

Figure l is a considerably enlarged, perspective view of my novelpneumatic despatch tube carrier; and

Fig. 2 is a side view of said carrier, drawn approximately full size.

The carrier in question is primarily intended for use in pressuresystems, or in otherwords those in which carriers are propelled bycompressed air; although I do not desire to be limited to such systems,since the carriers maybe used in what are generally termed Vacuumsystems.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 9, 1920.

Serial No. 139,747.

Said carrier preferably comprises a receptacle l of molded rubber or thelike; the first consideration, aside from durability, being lightness inweight. In furtherance of my aim to maintain the weight of the carrierat substantially a minimum, 1 prefer to make the carrier about the sizeof that shown in Fig. 2.

The wall of the receptacle is quite thin and preferably also veryflexible; and soft rubber, molded into the desired form, particularlyadapts itself to this requirement.

At the extremities of the preferably cylindrical receptacle, the wallsare thickened, as at 2 and 3, to aid in the maintenance of the carrierin proper shape, especially during transit; and further on account ofwear.

if the carrier be made of rubber, then a roll of paper a, such as isshown in position in the carrier in Fig. 2, will frictionally engage theinterior wall of the carrier,- by reason of the tendency of the paper tounroll and expand when confined in such a small diameteredreceptacle,with sulfh cient force to substantially preclude anylikelihood of said paper being inadvertently dislodged from the carrierwhen the latter is in transit.

Obviously, of course, if the wall of the receptacle were of metal, witha smooth surface, there would not be this pronounced resistance of thearticle against dislodgment; and hence for this reason in addition tothat aforesaid; T greatly prefer rubber as the material out of which toform the body of the carrier. Such a plastic substance as rubber alsoadapts itself to economics in manufacture; but little work beingnecessary upon the body of the carrier in forming the same, other thanto pour the plastic into the molds and thereafter remove the latter in aknown manner.

In place of using a fixed felt head, such as is customarily providedupon carriers, I have devised a type of head 5, relied uponsubstantially to fill the opening in the transmission tube, whatever theposition of the carrier laterally of the tube, and so constituting afloating head or packing. This head, rather than the body of thecarrier, obstructs the flow of air past the carrier, the head thusconstituting a packing between the carrier body and the wall of the turebetween the carrier and tube whatever the relative position of thecarrier and the inner surface of the tube may be.

It will be observed that this hub is sonu what longer than the thicknessof the floating head, t permit. of a slight movement of the latterlongitudinally of the carrier.

The floating head 5 receives the propulsive force of the air-current todrive the carrier, and may be retained in position by a disk or plate 8of aluminum, brass, or

other suitable material; this plate being firmly fastened to the bottomof the carrier by, for example, a rivet 9, the inner edge of which ispeened over upon a washer or plate 10, which, in effect, forms thebottom of the interior of the carrier.

Since the retaining plate 8 is somewhat larger in diameter than. theaperture 6, the floating head can never normally be separated from thereceptacle 1; but, where maximum economy of operation of the system isdesired, I prefer to provide a soft, resilient cup 11, constituting asubstantially airtight resilient packing between the body 1, '7, and thepacking head-5. The cup 11 is preferably made of rubber and beingpositioned between the floating head and the retaining plate 8, andbeing moreover somewhat dished or cupped, it normally tends to hold thehead lightly against the base of the receptacle 1. By reason of thefreedom of movement of said head upon the hub 7, the head can be cantedor inclined with respect to the axis of the carrier to better enable thelatter to traverse relatively sharp bends or curves in the line.

In fact, not only can the head thus cant with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the carrier, but, further, it may shift i 5position laterally to a limited extent in different directions, withrespect to said carrier axis, which still further tends to aid thecarrier in safely traversing such sharp curves, and substantiallyobviates any tendency for the carrier to stick in the line.

In this connection also, it may be pointed out that the flexibility ofthe carrier as a whole enables the carrier in an emergency to deformslightly just as if it were a sec tion of tube.

The carrier may be sent through the line with either end foremost; andespecially where such a packing cup as that designated 11 is provided,leakage of air through the aperture 6 is practically entirely obviated;since if the carrier be traveling with its open. end foremost, thepressure of air tends to hold the floating head 5 against the closed endof the carrier, and the flexible resilient cup 11 maintains its lipagainst the rear side of said head, and, in effect, covers saidaperture.

Similarly, if the carrier be traveling with its floating head foremost,which in. practice is best, the pressure of the air will tend to forcesaid head away from the bottom of the carrier; but this merely drivesthe head more firmly against the cup 11, and the latter in turn isbacked by the retaining plate b.

If the carrier is traversing a bend, the cup 11 will of course tend tobe correspondingly deformed while yet maintaining its seal.

I have found as a result of experin'leutation that a floating head thusconstructed of layers of canvas combined with rubber is exceedinglydurable; in fact, more so than the felt heads commonly in use; and owingto the flexible mounting of said head upon the carrier, its outerdiameter may reasonably closely approximate the inner diameter of thetube through which it is to travel.

In conclusion, I desire to lay stress upon the importance of thus makinga carrier of preferably plastic material, which can be readily moldedinto shape, and further of such material as is of relatively lowspecific gravity.

Such material advantageously permits of the formation of the carrier,especially when the latter is of such small size as that shown, of whatmay be termed feat-her weight; this term being used in the sense that itdelines the extraordinarily light weight of my novel carrier which inpractice weighs but about one ounce instcad of from half a pound up, ashas been customary heretofore.

Some of the advantages residing in the provision of such an extremelylight weight and small size carrier have been pointed out in. theapplication of Valter Bixby, Serial No. 135,971; and to the best of myknowledge I am the first to combine in a pncumatic despatch tubecarrier, the properties of extreme lightness and flexibility.

1 may also add that as a result of the notably small weight of mycarrier, it is possible to propel the latter through lines formed of,for example. 11;" tubemnt high velocity and with an expenditure of verylittle power indeed, owing to the fact that the air current whichfurnishes the propulsive force, may be at a pressure but slightly abovethat of the atmosphere, or if the system in which the carrier is used bea vacuum one, then in such case but slightly below atmospheri vpressure. at the exhaust end of the line. In fact, the carrier will besupported in a vertically disposed tube by an air current of but aboutone ounce pressure. An air current therefore which exerts a propulsiveeffort of less than tw ounces may be relied upon to effectively drivethe carrier.

By reason also of this extreme lightness of the carrier, practically allnoise and rattling. commonly in evidence when carriers of the ordinarydescription are in course of transit through a line, and especiallywhen. such carriers are passing around a bend,-- is eliminated. Thisfeature, in itself, particularly adapts my improved carrier for use inoflices and like places Where quietness is a desideratum; and when thisquietness in transit is coupled with the fact that the carrier, byreason of its low specific gravity and Weight, may be most readilydeprived of its momentum; there may be effected a consequent quietnessof delivery thereof, Which, so far as I am aware is not possible withcarriers of other descriptions, save where particular and more or lesscostly delivery apparatus is provided.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A carrier adapted for pneumatic propulsion in a despatch tubecomprising a body of less width than the despatch tube having a closedhead, a packing head wider than the body adapted substantially to lit inthe despatch tube, and means connecting together packing head and bodyadapted to permit free relative sliding movement of said parts one onthe other in the direction of the width of the carrier, whereby the bodyof the carrier is permitted to assume dititerent lateral positions inthe tube Without opening a passage past the carrier for an air-current.

2. A carrier adapted for pneumatic propulsion in a desptach tubecomprising a body of less width than the tube, an annular packing headexteriorly wider than said body adapted substantially to fit in thedespatchtube and close the aperture between said body and said tube, andmeans connecting together said packing head and said body adapted topermit lateral sliding movement in every direction of such head inrespect of said body.

A carrier adapted for pneui'natic propulsion in a despatch tubecomprising a body of less Width than the tube, an annular packing headexteriorly wider than said body adapted substantially to fit in thedespatch-tube and close the aperture between said body and said tube,and means connecting together said packing head and said body adapted topermit both lateral sliding and canting movement of said head in respectof said body.

-;l-. A carrier adapted for pneumatic propulsion in a despatch tubecomprising a body of less width than the tube, an annular packing headexteriorly wider than said body adapted substantially to lit in thedespatch-tube and close the aperture bebody, said connecting meanscomprising a so substantially air-tight resilient packing between saidbody and said head.

5. in elongated carrier for pneumatic despatch tube apparatus comprisinga molded receptacle oi plastic material, having an end thereolt'peripherally thickened and provided with a molded extension, saidcarrier having a floating head at said end, directly upon saidextension, and adapted to be canted at an acute angle to the axis ofsaid 7 carrier.

6. A'carrier for pneumatic despatch tube apparatus comprising areceptacle of molded plastic material constituting the body of saidcarrier, an extension centrally located upon one end of said body andintegral therewith, a centrally apertured washer-like floating head forsaid carrier, and means for holding said head in place directly uponsaid extension while permitting of lateral rocking play between saidhead and extension, the central aperture in said head being of greaterdiameter than said extension.

7. An elongated pneumatic despatch tube carrier having a head movablewith respect to the body 01'' said carrier in substantially alldirections in a plane perpendicular to the axis 01. said carrier,connections between said. body and head, said connections to the headbeing made thereto within the confines of the perimeter of said head,and having an open ing therearound and means for sealing said openingaround said connections.

8. A. pneumatic despatch tube carrier com- -orisin a bodv and a head forfittin enl. as u a 2:,

gagement with the despatch tube wider than the body, said parts beingjointed together by a headed projection on one of them taking looselythrough a hole in the other,

whereby to permit lateral and angular more ment of the head in respectto the body.

In testimony whereof I have afiiXed my slgnature, 1n. the presence oftwo witnesses.

CHESTER S. JENNINGS.

Witnesses:

A. G. CONWAY, R. E. FISKE.

